In an international project execution, as the project manager, you have to deal with many issues that cannot be forecasted or known from the beginning of the project. There are a lot of surprises that make the project execution a great challenge.

An example of such a project execution occurred in Malaysia. The object of this international project was to set up a magnetic recording head assembly factory in Malaysia in six months from scratch, that is, ramp up production from zero to 200,000 assemblies per week. This meant twenty just-in-time semiautomated production lines inside and outside a clean room operating in three shifts, 24 7.

The engineering project manager chose six senior engineers for the team, namely, two process engineers, two quality engineers, and two test engineers. A project plan was prepared for the general manager of the Malaysian factory who was a Malay, not an American. From cultural and networking points of view, it is always advisable to have a native general manager.

The project plan called for hiring and training of 20 process engineers, 120 supervisors, and 1200 operators and inspectors, all Malaysian, in six months. Hiring tests were prepared together with the human resources group. Especially good eyesight and good dexterity were needed for the operators and inspectors. Everyone had to be trained in statistical process control procedures for high-volume production, in clean-room procedures, in electrostatic discharge protection procedures, etc. All the process and test engineers had to be trained in equipment and tooling...